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OMETIME about the year 1877 a slim young man with a pale and meager face applied to the superintendent of the New York Produce Exchange for a position. He based his application upon the fact that the superintendent had known his father in an interior town years before. The superintendent recalled the young man as the son of an excellent father, a returned missionary, and, being well-disposed toward him, secured for him the clerkship of the Exchange at a salary of $1,000 a year. The superintendent was Mr. S. H. Grant, and the young clerk was Ferdinand Ward. Mr. S. H. Grant was not related in any degree to General U. S. Grant.

Ward filled his position acceptably, and had time to figure various speculative opportunities besides. At that time seats in the Exchange were rated low, and, seeing an upward tendency in business, young Ward began buying these seats as fast as he was able to raise the money, and sold them at a profit. He went into a number of speculations, all of which turned out profitably. He became acquainted with the daughter of the cashier of the Marine